


The Fountain of Knowledge

by Cait_Sidhe



Series: The Accidental Vampire [5]
Category: Kingdom Hearts (Video Games)
Genre: Angry Kairi (Kingdom Hearts), Biting, Blood Drinking, Boys Kissing, Canon-Typical Violence, Darkness, Dream Eater Link (Kingdom Hearts), Dream Eater Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Established Relationship, Game: Kingdom Hearts III, Heartless (Kingdom Hearts) - Freeform, Heartless Attacks (Kingdom Hearts), Immortality, Keyblade Wielder Kairi (Kingdom Hearts), Kissing, M/M, Magic, Magical Accidents, Mild Blood, Minor Injuries, Mysterious Tower (Kingdom Hearts), Nymphs & Dryads, Olympus (Kingdom Hearts), POV Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Post-Kingdom Hearts Dream Drop Distance, Post-Kingdom Hearts II, Pre-Kingdom Hearts III, Protective Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Rage form, Rage form Sora, Riku Loves Sora (Kingdom Hearts), Skinny Dipping, Sora Loves Riku (Kingdom Hearts), Vampires, fountain of knowledge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:07:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25677058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cait_Sidhe/pseuds/Cait_Sidhe
Summary: Sora and Riku return to Olympus to ask Hades a very important question: is immortality a trait Sora gained after accidentally turning himself into a partial vampire?Hades has an answer, but Sora and Riku aren't sure if they can trust him. When they learn of the Fountain of Knowledge, which can answer any question they desire, Hades strikes a deal: in exchange for a map to the fountain, Riku agrees that if Sora is indeed immortal, he will drink ambrosia to become immortal too.Also, Riku learns about Sora's Rage Form, which is slightly different now that he's become a vampire...
Relationships: Riku/Sora (Kingdom Hearts)
Series: The Accidental Vampire [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1777057
Comments: 5
Kudos: 53





	The Fountain of Knowledge

**Author's Note:**

> Not sure how I completed this so quickly; didn't expect to for a few more days. Guess I had it more finished than I'd thought!
> 
> Timeline: Like the past two entries, this takes place just at the end of "2.9" (i.e., very start of KH3, after the in-game Olympus visit).

“Hey, Riku?” Sora asked as he trailed his hand over Riku’s shirtless back. His boyfriend lay on their now-shared bed (the Tower had changed their separate twin ones into a single double upon realizing they no longer slept separately), face down; Sora lay on his side, curled up close, also shirtless. They both wore boxers, nothing else. The blanket had been kicked to their feet sometime during the night.

Riku’s voice came out in a mumble thanks to the pillow his face was pressed into. “Go to sleep, Sora, it’s too early.”

“But I thought you liked getting up early?” Sora asked in a teasing voice that was lined with a slight layer of annoyance at Riku’s lack of attention (although Sora did realize that 6am was quite early for them both—but it wasn’t his fault his brain chose now to wake up with a great idea!).

“Not this early,” Riku continued protesting.

Well, then. Sora would just have to wake Riku up in a different way. He shifted slightly to be closer to Riku, positioning his mouth near Riku’s shoulder and opening it wide…

“If you bite me, Sora, I’m not giving you blood for a week,” Riku said, unmoving.

Sora reared back in surprise. “How’d you know—”

Riku sighed and finally turned his head to look at Sora. “Because that’s what you always do when I don’t want to wake up.”

“Well, what if I’m hungry?” Sora asked petulantly, even though he’d just eaten the previous evening, the evidence trailing down Riku’s neck and chest until it disappeared under his boxers.

“Unless last night was a dream, you’re definitely not hungry. What do you want?” Riku asked with a groan.

Sora pouted. “You don’t sound very enthusiastic.”

“Sora, I’m half asleep. And I can’t be enthusiastic when I don’t know what I should be enthusiastic about.”

“Oh, right. Well, I think we should go to Olympus.”

Riku blinked a few times in sleepy confusion. “Why?”

“To talk to Hades.”

Riku took a moment to process the words, then abruptly sat up, suddenly wide awake. “WHAT?”

“I want to talk to Hades.”

“Why in the worlds would you want to…” Riku shook his head. “You’ve gotta be joking. That was just to shock me into waking up, right?”

“Nope! I have questions for him,” Sora informed Riku. Specifically, about the partial-vampirism Sora had accidentally magicked onto himself a month prior, confirmed as permanent by Merlin and Ienzo earlier that week, with no possibility to change back. It wasn’t that bad, actually; it was only partial, so most downsides had been avoided, with the biggest issue being unable to eat human food (which he often accidentally did, earning him a trip to the bathroom, because most of it still looked, smelled, and tasted good, to Sora’s chagrin). Oh, and needing to drink blood was technically an issue too (although Sora reluctantly admitted that he no longer felt any qualms about that… in fact, he actually had grown to enjoy it, as Riku was the donor, and thus it often involved intimacy—especially since it turned out Riku was really into being bitten, to both Sora and Riku’s surprise. Sora briefly wondered if his boyfriend had any other interesting kinks to explore…).

Riku sighed and flopped back to the bed on his back, putting an arm over his eyes. “What kind of questions do you have that you need to talk to the Lord of the Dead about? Who, might I add, you recently helped thwart the plans of.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that,” Sora said. Indeed, just three weeks prior he, Kairi, Donald, and Goofy had helped Hercules mitigate a coup of the Realm of the Gods that Hades had orchestrated. “He likes me though, so it’ll be fine.”

Riku removed his arm from his face and stared at Sora in disbelief. “Since when does he… Sora, even if he did, I’m sure he doesn’t now.”

Sora frowned. “Really? I dunno. He’s a pretty chill guy.” Sora morphed his expression into his best puppy-dog face (Riku could almost never resist it). “Please, Riku?”

Riku sighed and closed his eyes. “Are you going to try to go anyway if I don’t agree?”

Sora grinned. “Of course.”

∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞

“So, why are we doing this again?” Riku asked from the pilot seat of the GummiShip. Sora had asked to drive, but Riku wouldn’t let him (not fair at all; Sora had only crashed the ship once! But it wasn’t worth arguing about that again, so Sora had let Riku drive without protest).

“I told you, I have questions!”

“Yeah, I get that, but you never told me what about.”

“Oh, right,” Sora realized. “About the vampire thing.”

Riku looked plain confused. “What? Why? We must have gone through dozens of books; what question would you have that wasn’t in them? And why would you need to go to Hades for it?”

Sora shifted in his seat nervously. “Well… er, it’s not really about being a vampire per se, more like how much of a vampire I am...” Sora trailed off.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, vampires generally live forever unless someone kills them, right?”

“Yeah, I guess… but didn’t you say you thought you weren’t? Since you still breathe and sleep and stuff.”

Sora nodded. “Yeah, but then I was thinking about it some more, and remembered that Hades gave me that bottle of ambrosia. And when I asked Zeus to confirm what it was, he didn’t take it away, even though mortals shouldn’t have it…”

“So you think they know something more about your condition?” Riku caught on.

“Yeah. I mean, Hades instantly knew I was a vampire on-sight. So maybe he knew that, too.” 

Riku frowned. “But I thought you said he thought you were a full vampire. So he could have just assumed.”

Sora wiggled in his seat slightly. “Well, that’s what I assumed it was… but what if he did know it was only partially? Or maybe the gods can just tell who is mortal and who isn’t on-sight or something.”

Riku nodded. “Makes sense… but then why don’t we ask Zeus?”

Sora looked at Riku in surprise. It was so obvious! Sora blushed (he could be so stupid sometimes! Ugh.) “That works too I guess,” Sora said sheepishly. “I, uh, didn’t think of that.”

Riku chuckled fondly. 

∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞

“Why the fuck are violent towers of sand on platforms in the sky?” Sora complained as he struck one with his keyblade. They were so annoying!

Riku landed the final blow, a beautifully executed Dark Aura attack. Sora watched in awe (how did Riku manage to always look so good, even while in the midst of battle?). Riku landed hard, panting slightly, then Sora noticed something that didn’t look so great—a large bloody scrape on his arm.

“Oh no! Riku, are you okay?” Sora said as he ran over. “Ouch, that looks bad! Curaga,” he said, causing glowing vines to encircle Riku. The wound healed over partially, but there was still a nasty red patch. “I’ll get you a potion, too, I have a few on me…” Sora quickly reached into his pocket until he found a little bottle, starting to uncork it.

“Whoa, wait, Sora!” Riku called, putting out a hand. “That is not a potion!”

Sora looked in his hand. “Fuck.” He corked the bottle and shoved the ambrosia Hades had given him (‘in case you want your sexy blood bank around forever’, the dark god had said) back into his pocket and took out an actual potion, making extra sure to check it first. 

∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞

Zeus shrugged his shoulders when Sora asked him why he didn’t question Hades giving him ambrosia (he had previously asked Zeus to confirm the contents of the bottle Hades gave him the last time they were there). “Honestly, I didn’t really think much of it,” Zeus said. “I assumed you were immortal, as it is technically the rule that mortals cannot have such, but it is not strictly enforced. Obviously we’d intervene if someone were giving it to lots of mortals, upon which it would become an issue, but otherwise we leave it to the discretion of the individual god. If they give it to the wrong person, they must deal with the consequences.”

“Oh,” Sora said, then asked the more pressing question. “But you’re able to tell if people are mortal or not, right?”

Zeus frowned. “Humans, yes. But you are not human. That is why I simply assumed you were not mortal when I saw what my brother had given you… do you not know if you are or not?”

Sora nodded. “Yeah. I became a vampire—or, strigoi as it’s called here—because of a magical accident, and only some of the traits stayed. Usually the creature I was changed into is immortal, but I don’t know if that trait stayed or not.”

Zeus nodded. “I see. Well, empousa, and by extension similar species such as strigoi, are Hades’s domain, so I would suggest seeing him about such. He would be able to tell… although, I suspect he would not have given you the ambrosia if you were still mortal.”

Sora sighed. “Right. I kinda thought that might be the case.” He wished he could take that at face value, but he really should get full confirmation… why did it have to be Hades? Even if the god were magically not angry and agreed to talk, the guy always taunted Sora so much that it got tiring (although, Sora had to admit that if he didn’t bite the bait in the first place, the god probably wouldn’t keep teasing him. Especially about his sexuality… oh. Riku was here with him now. Well then.).

Riku voiced the shared concern. “But, Sora helped save you from Hades’s plans,” he pointed out. “He won’t be willing to talk. Is there any other way to find out?”

Zeus laughed heartily at that. “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that. He might be a bit pouty over it, but he won’t be any different than usual.” Sora blinked, not expecting the God of the Underworld to be described as ‘pouty’. Zeus paused in thought for a moment. “You know, he might actually be more receptive of you, given that technically you are a creature of his domain now, even if only partially.”

Sora had no response to that, so simply stared at Zeus in response. So, Riku responded instead, which Sora didn’t mind as he surely already knew what Sora wanted to do. “We’ll try talking to him, then.” 

∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞

“Ah, and the little bloodsucker returns!” Hades greeted them; as soon as Riku and Sora entered the Underworld, he’d appeared. “Oooh, and you brought your portable blood bank, too… huh. Surprised you didn’t use the ambrosia; you know that’s the real thing I gave you, right? Really hope you didn’t dump it; we don’t need immortal fish and bugs running around.”

Sora turned to Riku. “See! I told you!” Riku had laughed at Sora when he’d said that (even though it made perfect sense! Bugs and fish were mortal too. Obviously ambrosia would work on them).

“So you did,” Riku said, cautiously eyeing Hades. “We didn’t dump it, but aren’t going to use it,” he informed the god.

“Aww, don’t be such a stick-in-the-mud,” Hades said, slinging an arm around Riku, who instantly stiffened. “Don’t you want to be around as long as your little boyfriend? Or do you want to be an old man while he still looks like a teen? Gonna be awfully awkward that way, if you’re still together.”

“Of course we’ll be together!” Sora protested, then froze. “Wait. Still looks like a teen?” Did that mean…?

Hades rolled his eyes, letting go of Riku, who slid over to Sora protectively. “Well, duh,” Hades said. “What, did you think you’d magically age until you’re in your prime, then stop? Nope. You stopped aging the moment you took your first sip of blood.”

Sora’s eyes widened. “I’m going to be a teen… forever?” No way. No, no, no, no. Sora definitely did not want this.

“Yup, you’re stuck at the most awkward age. But, hey, give your boy that ambrosia, and he’ll stay frozen with you too. Won’t be that bad, hmm?” Hades looked over Riku. “Yup, not bad at all. Looks like you’ve already come into your own quite well.” Sora gaped at the god. Did he really just… what?

Riku slid an arm around Sora’s waist and glared at the blue god.

Hades then narrowed his eyes at Riku. “Whoa whoa whoa, hold up. You’re not human either, are you?”

“What?” Sora asked, turning to Riku. “What does he mean?”

Riku shrugged, looking equally confused. 

Then, it clicked for Sora. Of course! “You’re talking about how he’s my dream-eater!” Sora proclaimed (perhaps that was the one good thing that came from Sora failing his exam; he strongly suspected the lack of nightmares since were Riku’s doing, even if the silverette hadn’t explicitly said such).

“Your what now?” Hades asked, clearly thrown by the new information.

“Dream-eater! That also happened thanks to weird magic. He has power over my dreams or something? Not exactly sure,” Sora admitted. He didn’t think Riku entirely knew the full extent of it, either.

Hades frowned. “Huh. You kids gotta go easy on the magic, sheesh… well, this is puzzling, now…” He pursed his lips and stroked his chin in thought.

“What’s puzzling?” Sora asked, not happy with how Hades was looking so closely at Riku.

After another short moment of quiet contemplation, Hades answered, directed at Riku, “I can’t quite tell if that dream-eater thing makes you already immortal or not… hmm. If I’m reading the connection correctly, you’ll die when Sora does, regardless of life span. Not the reverse though. Although I dunno if that means you’ll age or not...”

Sora and Riku both looked at the god in shock, completely not expecting that. Riku would die when Sora died? Was that normally the case with dream-eaters? Their bond went that deep? Sora wondered if he should be concerned about that (although a part of him really really really liked the idea of Riku being bound so tightly to him, even in the case of death).

“Well, I’d drink the ambrosia just in case,” Hades concluded. “Again, don’t want to end up looking like you’re a senior-citizen dating a teen… so, why are you here?”

“Oh. I actually just wanted to confirm if I were mortal or not,” Sora said. Which had basically happened already without prompting.

“Ah, since you’re only part vampire, gotcha.”

Sora blinked at Hades. “You can tell that?”

“Kid, I’m God of the Underworld. Knowing dark creatures on sight is part of the job, partial or not. But, yeah. You’re definitely immortal.”

Sora frowned. “Okay… so why did you give me the ambrosia? I know you said it’s for Riku to become immortal too, but why would you just hand that over?”

Hades shrugged. “Can’t a guy do something nice?” Hades noted the boys’ unimpressed expressions and rolled his eyes. “Oh, come on. You try to conquer the world a few times, and suddenly you’re the bad guy… ugh. Look, I just happened to have a vial, and figured you might need it. It’s not like that stuff is hard to come by when you’re a god. So, was that all you were here for?”

Sora nodded. “Yeah… you sure? You sure I’m immortal?”

Hades nodded and laughed briefly. “Oh yeah.” Then he sensed the two boys weren’t trusting of him, so said, “Look, if you don’t believe me, you can go to the Fountain of Knowledge and ask there. I’ll even give you a map.”

“What’s the catch?” Riku asked, rightfully skeptical.

Hades sighed. “Why’s everyone always think there’s a catch?”

“Because there always is with you,” Riku replied.

“Well, there wasn’t going to be, but fine, let’s turn it into a bet. I give you the map, and if the fountain does confirm that you’re immortal, you have to use the ambrosia.”

“And if it says I’m mortal?” Sora asked.

“Hey, that’s your end of the bargain. What would you want if you won?”

Sora thought about that. “Um… okay, if I am mortal, you stop trying to conquer the cosmos.”

Hades scoffed. “Well. Those stakes sound just a teensie bit uneven, but fine. Deal?” Hades held out his hand.

Sora frowned, debating (it was Hades; could they really trust him?), but Riku didn’t even think about it. “Deal,” the silverette said, grabbing the god’s hand.

“Riku!” Sora gasped. “How can you just so casually decide that?”

Riku turned to Sora, eyes set in determination. “Because I'd do it anyway. If you have to be a teen forever, I’ll be a teen forever too.” Sora blushed at that. He had to admit, the idea did sound nice; he definitely had not appreciated Hades’s image of Sora looking sixteen while Riku looked sixty.

Hades laughed at that. “Well, don’t see that kind of loyalty every day. I like it. Here’s your map, kid.” Hades conjured a map and handed it to Riku. Then he turned to Sora. “You know it’s kinda ironic, huh? This situation you’re in.”

Sora frowned. “Ironic?”

“Well, yeah. A so-called ‘Hero-of-Light’ becoming a ‘Creature-of-the-Night’. Might not be the same darkness Mr. Dream-Eater here uses, or the feral kind locked in your heart, but strigoi are considered dark creatures, you know. Hence why their management falls under my domain. Super ironic.”

Sora laughed feebly and rubbed a hand on the back of his neck. “Heh heh, yeah, I guess it is,” he agreed nervously, highly conscious of how Hades mentioned a darkness locked in his heart. Had Riku caught that? Judging by the calculating look on the silverette’s face, he had. Well, fuck. “So!” Sora declared. “Let’s get to that fountain!” After a rushed “See ya! Thanks!” directed at Hades, Sora grabbed Riku’s wrist and dragged him out of the Underworld.

∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞

“Hey, Sora?” Riku asked suddenly. They’d been walking in amicable silence until then, holding hands as they trekked over grassy fields towards the Fountain of Knowledge. It would be more than a day's journey; unfortunately there were no points closer the GummiShip could be legally parked. Sora would usually just ignore that rule, but Riku was adamant about following it. Sora agreed once Riku pointed out that it gave them an opportunity to travel somewhere completely alone.

“Yeah?” Sora asked nervously. Was Riku going to mention what Hades said about Sora having hidden darkness (which undoubtedly referred to what Sora had cutely named ‘rage-form’, which thankfully hadn’t occurred at all since he’d turned)? Sora wasn’t ready for that conversation… Luckily that isn’t what Riku said. Or, maybe unluckily.

“Did you tell Yen Sid we were going here?”

Sora froze and held Riku’s hand tighter, causing Riku to almost fall as he kept moving forwards a few steps. Sora had not actually remembered to inform Yen Sid of their trip, even after getting lectured by the wizard and Mickey not even a full day prior about needing to do such.

Riku sighed, getting the message. “Seriously, Sora?” He ruffled through his pockets. “I don’t have my GummiPhone on me; it must still be in the ship. Do you have yours?”

Sora ruffled through his pockets as well. “Uh, I think mine’s there too.” He laughed a little and scratched the back of his head. “Oops.”

Riku groaned and looked up at the bright blue sky. “He’s going to murder us!”

Sora giggled. “Nah. He still needs his seven lights, remember? He’ll probably just lock us up in the dungeon.”

Riku looked at Sora curiously. “Dungeon? The Tower has a dungeon?”

Sora shrugged. “The Tower creates rooms at will. Pretty sure if Yen Sid wanted a dungeon in it, a dungeon would appear in it.

Riku frowned slightly. “I suppose that’s true… you don’t think he actually would, though…?” he asked warily. Sora tried not to laugh as he realized that Riku actually was considering such (Sora sometimes forgot that technically he had known Yen Sid quite a bit longer than Riku).

“Hey, he can be pretty shady sometimes, that’s all I’m saying,” Sora said slyly, seeing if Riku would take the bait.

Riku laughed and raised an eyebrow. “Yen Sid, shady? Are we talking about the same uptight, rule-abiding wizard?” Damn. Riku had realized Sora was playing him.

Sora laughed. “Damn, can’t fool you, can I? Guess—WATCH OUT!” 

Sora tackled Riku to the ground, just in time to avoid a volley of arrows; the two had become the target of a group of archer heartless. Sora growled in annoyance; couldn’t they see he was enjoying some time with Riku? And why’d it have to be archers? They were so annoying! Sora shot off a quick fira spell, which from his awkward angle on the ground misfired and hit a tree instead.

“Shit,” Riku said, scrambling up with Sora and drawing his keyblade. Sora drew his too as he shot another fireball, much larger than the previous one, this time scrambling the group. Riku gave him an odd look. “You can do battle magic without the keyblade?”

“Huh? Of course,” Sora said, not sure why Riku would ask that. “Can’t everyone?”

“No, actually,” Riku told him. “Huh. No wonder Merlin said your magic was exceptional.”

Sora blushed. “It’s really not… oh!” Sora dodged to the side. “If you block, I think I can hit them with an aeroga…”

So, that became the strategy for a while—Riku defending Sora while he let off spells, as archers were really tough to get near enough for physical strikes. It was a pretty good strategy, and was working pretty well…

That is, until they realized it was more than just the one group of heartless, and more than just archers.

“Shit, Riku, we need to change strategies; my mana is running too low to keep this up,” Sora said.

“Yeah; this group’s just a bunch of shadows, we can do a bunch of physical strikes while regaining mana.”

That strategy worked for the shadows—but the shadows were followed by air soldiers and some large bodies.

“What the hell,” Sora growled; his stamina was getting low. Riku echoed his sentiments. Sora could tell the silverette wanted to come over to help Sora, but they had become separated to the extent of being on opposite sides of the battlefield… well, that was fine. Sora could do this, despite getting tired.

Soon, the air soldiers and large bodies were defeated. Was that it? Sora looked around. It seemed like it… wait. Fuck. Satyrs, and yet another group of archers.

“I think we’ll have to run!” Riku shouted, and for once Sora had to agree, if that were actually an option.

Sora dodged out of the way of a charging satyr, only to receive a direct hit from an arrow. But, that was okay; Sora had a cure spell at the ready, which he used… along with the rest of his mana. He’d have to be extra caref—

Sora yelled out in pain as a satyr (he really had to pay more attention to when and where he healed) hit him straight-on, knocking him into a tree. Sora tumbled onto the ground; ouch. Okay, no problem, he had a potion in his pocket somewhere; Sora, lying on the ground, shakily moved to look through his pockets, but then realized he didn’t have time for that.

“Sora!” Riku called, running over to him. Sora rolled to his stomach and pushed up, wincing as he did so, preparing to defend himself from the satyr heartless barreling towards him, but his body was sluggish. Riku wasn’t going to make it in time, either…

Sora half-sighed, half-growled. He had no choice; he could feel it building throughout the battle, gaining fuel the more frustrated he became and the more damage he sustained. Sora didn’t want Riku to see this, but if he didn’t use it now… Sora struggled a bit more to lift his keyblade into a defensive position, but the satyr was just a foot away now—no choice.

A wave of darkness exploded out of Sora, knocking the satyr away. Sora barely was aware of Riku freezing in his tracks, wide-eyed as he watched the cloak of darkness engulf Sora. Sora charged, barrelling into the satyr, driving his hand through it with claws of darkness. More satyrs were behind it, and Sora fought them with vigor, heedless of injury. He pulled them apart with his claws, drove his fangs into them mercilessly… 

“Sora!” yelled a voice. Sora ignored it.

Sora ran into the group of archers and unleashed another wave of darkness, crying out in pain as he did so, but it took them down. Next was a rock troll heartless; it landed a direct hit on Sora with its blunt axe, but this did not deter Sora. He leapt right back up, fueled by the darkness. 

“Sora, please, stop this! Don’t give in!”

Sora bit into it, and sucked in some of the heartless’s darkness before it vanished in defeat. It tasted… good. Delicious. He needed more darkness. More heartless blood. He ran into the center of a small group of shadows and soldier heartless, and rapidly devoured them one-by-one too. So much delicious darkness! It only fueled the form, extending the duration and allowing him to let out even more waves of darkness, pillars too now, and projectiles! 

“Sora! You need to stop!”

Sora stopped, but not because of the voice; he had run out of heartless to consume. He padded around on all fours in confusion. He was hungry! He needed that darkness! The blood of the heartless! So tasty!

“Sora, please! Come back to me!”

Sora finally noticed the pleading voice. He stopped, turned to it, and made a churring sound of confusion. He recognized the voice.

The person talking to him was on their knees a few yards away, holding out a hand. “Sora, hey, please, you have to snap out of this.”

Sora? Snap out of this? What was this human saying? Sora crawled slightly closer, sniffing a bit. He recognized the scent. The scent of a friend… no, of someone closer than that.

“Sora, I know you’re in there.”

Sora reached the person, who was trembling slightly. Sora sniffed their hand; yes, he recognized this person. They were bonded, linked to him. He tilted his head into the person’s hand, and the person began to gently stroke his hair. Sora sat on his heels and let out a small purr, leaning into the hand.

“Hey. Come on, Sora, I got you…” The person put their hand on Sora’s shoulder. 

Sora froze briefly, wary… but no, he could trust this person. This person was warm. He liked this person. They were connected. Sora relaxed and allowed himself to be drawn into a hug, nuzzling into the person’s chest… the darkness began to ebb away, and Sora remembered the name of the person. “Ri… ku…” he muttered. 

“Sora,” Riku whispered in response.

The darkness fell away, and Sora collapsed fully into his boyfriend’s arms. He let out a small whimper and closed his eyes as the pain of his injuries, previously hidden by the darkness, flared up.

“Sora? Hey, Sora, talk to me, don’t pass out,” Riku said in a panic, shaking him slightly.

Sora let out a whiny moan. “Not gonna pass out… Everything hurts…”

Riku let in a sharp breath. “Right, sorry.” He summoned his keyblade. “Curaga.” As he whispered the spell, glowing translucent vines blossomed from Riku’s keyblade, wrapping around Sora and easing the pain of his injuries (thankfully, all had been minor cuts and bruises, albeit a disturbing number). 

“‘S not your fault,” Sora mumbled. “You’ve never seen me like that before.”

“This had happened before?” Riku hissed.

Sora looked up at Riku, blinking a few times to properly focus. Riku’s expression seemed to be fluctuating between concern, panic, anger, and any other number of hurt reactions.

Sora looked back down. “Yeah. Sometimes if I get too stressed or hurt in battle, it appears. I don’t have much control but it never attacks allies.”

Riku nodded. “I-I see. How long has this…?”

“Since I woke from the pod,” Sora answered. Then he saw Riku’s shocked expression and, predicting the silverette’s thoughts, quickly assured him, “I don’t think it has anything to do with the memory restoration! I think it’s just a residual effect from briefly being a heartless.” That was one theory, the one he’d told Donald and Goofy. Perhaps it even was. But Sora knew it was more than that; it was only capable of appearing once the dam behind his darker feelings broke or overflowed, after shoving too much away.

“I guess that makes sense,” Riku said after a while, though Sora was sure Riku suspected there was more to it. Thankfully he didn’t press. “Donald and Goofy know?”

Sora nodded. “Yeah. Well, somewhat. Usually it happens when they’re knocked out or in danger, so I'm not sure if they’ve ever gotten as good a look at it as you… but everything’s fuzzy when I try to remember being in that form.”

“Huh. Does it always suck darkness out of the heartless, too?”

Sora blinked at him in confusion. “It did WHAT?”

“You drained them of their darkness, absorbing it to extend the form, until they were all defeated. You were unleashing it in waves of powerful dark attacks.”

Sora was sure his eyes were orb-sized. “I… that’s new. Usually it’s a couple minutes of a rampage, that’s it. Sometimes there’s a stronger attack or two, but they’re really painful, like they use physical health instead of mana.”

Riku frowned and quieted as he thought for a moment. “Sora… have you used that form since becoming a vampire?”

Sora frowned, thinking. “...No.” he concluded. “You think that has to do with…?”

Riku sighed. “Looks like it. You seemed to be taking in the dark energy via biting.”

Sora groaned and flopped his forehead onto Riku’s chest.

Riku pressed a kiss into Sora’s hair and pulled him closer.

After a few minutes of companionable silence, Riku stroking Sora’s hair soothingly, Sora tried to wriggle out of the tight embrace. Riku grinned and held him closer, and Sora giggled, looking up at his boyfriend. “Ri-ku! Come on, we need to get to the fountain!”

Riku shook his head, smiling fondly at Sora. “Nope. You need to rest some more.” He gave Sora a quick peck on the lips, but Sora followed it when Riku pulled back and pressed into a deeper kiss. Riku laughed as the kiss broke. “Let me guess; hungry after that?” He gave Sora a coy look.

Sora smiled salaciously. “Maybe…” he tilted his head and buried it in the crook of Riku’s neck, biting down and taking a small drink.

RIku let out a small moan. “Come on, let’s move elsewhere,” Riku muttered as Sora let go. “Don’t want to get attacked again. We should pitch a tent.”

Sora raised an eyebrow and grinned teasingly, briefly glancing downwards. “Really? Looks like you’ve already pitched one.”

Riku looked Sora in the eyes, deadpanned. “Seriously?”

After a beat, the two broke out into jubilous laughter.

∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞

After a quiet night of dreamless sleep (Riku’s doing?) and another half day’s walk (thankfully without further incident; they occasionally encountered heartless in tiny groups, but nothing that took more than a couple of minutes to beat), Sora and Riku came across a narrow spring.

“Think this is the ‘Pierian Spring’ that the map mentions?” Sora asked.

“Can’t be any other,” Riku confirmed. “It says to follow it for a bit, and then we’ll reach the fountain.”

“It can’t be this easy,” Sora said skeptically.

It was not that easy.

Upon reaching the fountain—which turned out to be more of a small waterfall leading into a pool within a beautiful forest, surrounded by a white-and-golden gate—Sora and Riku found a tall, black-cloaked figure holding a green-gemmed staff. She had horns wrapped in black fabric, and although he couldn’t see it Sora knew she had a pale face with heavy purple eyeshadow. She was Maleficent, the dark faerie that had manipulated Riku to give into the darkness so long ago (okay, not that long ago, but so much had happened since that it might as well have been). She seemed to be arguing with three stunningly beautiful young maidens wearing thin strips of translucent blue fabrics that barely covered themselves (they were lovely enough that Sora almost started questioning his sexuality, until he remembered that Hades's notes on the map mentioned the three guardians of the fountain being water nymphs who had that effect on everyone regardless of usual sexuality).

“What do you mean, I cannot access the fountain?” The witch asked indignantly. “Do you know who I am?”

“You are a dark faerie who wishes to use the fountain's knowledge for unsavory purposes,” one of the nymphs said. “Such is not permitted.”

“Unsavory purposes? I merely wish to know the location of the box I seek!”

“Which you believe contains a book you can use for unsavory purposes,” the second nymph said. 

“How do you know that?” Maleficent snapped with a glare.

“We are guardians of knowledge,” the third nymph reminded her. “It is only natural that we would know such.”

“We also know that you would undoubtedly try to learn more than simply where the book is located,” the first pointed out. Maleficent pursed her lips at that.

“Hey, Riku, you don’t think she means the book Merlin has, do you?” Sora whispered to the silverette, thinking he was too far away for the witch to hear.

He wasn’t, although it did seem Maleficent hadn’t caught the actual words that had been whispered. The dark faerie swerved around. “You!” she said angrily, evidently not pleased to see the boys. “Why are you here?”

The two approached the gate, not concerned with Maleficent potentially attacking. If she had wanted to, she already would have; as it stood, she seemed more interested in accessing the fountain.

“The strigoi may pass,” nymph number three said casually, most of her attention still on Maleficent.

Sora blinked in surprise, then tepidly opened the short gate and stepped through, walking down to the water where a fourth nymph met him. He was a bit uneasy doing this alone, but had a feeling that arguing would be a bad idea. 

“Please disrobe,” the nymph told him without preamble.

Sora blushed. “Erm. Why?”

“Because you must enter the fountain fully in order to acquire its knowledge, and clothing is disruptive of such.”

“I see,” Sora said, though made no move to undress, highly aware that Riku, Maleficent, and the other nymphs had a full view (although, come to think of it, Riku had seen him naked many times before, the nymphs apparently were unaffected by people disrobing, and he didn’t care what Maleficent thought. The embarrassment was misplaced).

“If you wish to learn the answer you seek, you must disrobe,” the nymph reiterated.

Sora sighed, and did so, except for his boxers.

“Fully,” the nymph said, now with an amused smile.

Sora did so, feeling somewhat awkward.

“Now, submerge yourself in the fountain,” the nymph instructed. “You must think only of the desired answer, and nothing more. Let your thoughts wander, and you risk absorbing too much knowledge, which will lead to madness. Do not try to learn any more than the answer you came here to seek. If a different stream of knowledge tries to be discovered, you must ignore it. Focus solely on your question.”

Sora nodded. “Understood.” He took a deep breath, then stepped forwards, down a gentle slope. He prepared for cold water, but instead there seemed to be no temperature. Soon he was submerged to his neck. Sora took a deep breath and held it, diving forwards into the deeper center and submerging himself fully. He quickly realized that he could open his eyes and breathe under this water with perfect ease. He floated there for a bit, and then golden streams of sparking magic began slowly surrounding Sora. 

Sora closed his eyes again, focusing on his question as the golden threads began whispering to him, tempting him with forbidden knowledge. Sora ignored them, purposely not listening as he focused on what he wanted to know. It was difficult—this was not a great thing for someone whose thoughts loved to wander—but Sora tried his best to focus. A thread related to him appeared, and Sora let it in, then tried to expel it as he realized it was the wrong thing, but to no use. Hopefully one extra thing wasn’t an issue. Immediately after it was followed by the knowledge he did want to know, and Sora willfully accepted it.

Sora emerged from the fountain quickly after, surprised to find he was dry. He dressed himself immediately and then apologized to the nymph. “I think I accidentally learned two things; I’m sorry, I really tried not to, but—”

The nymph shook her head and smiled gently. “That is okay. The other was merely something your heart already knew. You did well; most men become engulfed with the temptation of knowing more than they should, even after our warnings. You are purer of heart than any man we have met prior.”

Sora blushed at the unexpected praise. “Even if I’m a dark creature?”

“Dark is relative. The boy you are bound to holds much darkness, yet he is more light than most those with half as much.”

Sora nodded and smiled, knowing she was referring to Riku. “I know. If only he would believe it… thank you for letting me use the fountain.”

“You are very welcome. Now, go. I’m sure your partner is eager to know what you have learned.”

Sora proceeded to exit the gate, ignoring Maleficent eyeing him suspiciously and telling Riku, “It’s true.” He took out the bottle of ambrosia and tossed it to the silverette.

Riku laughed once, then said, “Well, bottoms up, then.” He uncorked the bottle and downed the ambrosia in a few gulps, smacking his lips a bit. A dreamy look entered his eyes.

“How’s it taste?” Sora asked curiously, after a few beats of silence.

Riku blinked a few times, clearing away his slight daze. “It’s… indescribable. Sweet, a little like honey, but sweeter, and with an additional layer to it. And it feels… warm. Soothing. Like an elixir on speed. I feel like I can do anything.”

Maleficent was looking at them with a frown. “What is that you just drank, child?” she questioned. “It reeks of powerful magic.”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Sora said, sticking his tongue out childishly.

Maleficent turned her gaze to Sora. “And you. The nymph called you a strigoi. How did such come to pass?”

“Hmph. Like we’d tell you,” Sora said, rolling his eyes.

“Well, no matter,” the witch said curtly. “The one over there said you learned a second thing. What is it? Is it the location of the box I seek?”

Sora raised an eyebrow. “Why would it be that?” He turned to Riku. “It was related to the vampirism. There really is no way at all to reverse all this… which we basically knew already.”

Riku, appearing to be high, said teasingly, “Well, good, because I didn’t drink that ambrosia just for you to turn mortal on me again.”

Maleficent raised her eyebrows. “Well this is certainly an interesting development.”

Sora turned towards her in brief surprise; he, and apparently Riku too, had already forgotten that the witch was there (especially embarrassing as she’d spoken barely over a minute prior). Whoops. Not that the witch could do much with that information… could she? All she’d really learned was that they’d become more powerful… if immortality could be called such. They could still get hurt and die, just not naturally. 

“Well, it is of little consequence,” Maleficent concluded too. “Now, if you excuse me, I must be on my way.” She manifested a dark portal behind her, then turned and walked through it.

Sora waved goodbye to the Nymphs and expressed his thanks again before taking Riku’s hand and quickly leading his boyfriend back along the river to head back to the ship. Riku, still giddy and lost in his own thoughts, happily allowed Sora to lead him. Sora wondered how long Riku would be acting like this; should he be concerned? They hadn’t actually studied the effects of ambrosia before using it; all they knew is that it made people immortal. Were there additional effects? Did it affect dream-eaters differently?

“Hey, what’re you worrying about?” Riku asked Sora (speaking of dream-eaters, that link could be annoying at times, considering how easily it allowed them to tell each others’ emotions when left unguarded).

“Uh, well...” Sora rubbed the back of his head in a nervous gesture. “You’re kinda acting… um.”

Riku laughed. “Yeah, I know. It’ll wear off.”

“You sure?”

“Yup. It feels… hm. Kinda like alcohol, but without as much fuzziness… er. Not that I’ve! Uh.”

Sora laughed. “Ri-ku, why are you defending yourself? I’ve had it too you know—with you, in fact.” It was true; the two could be curious to a fault, and thus had tried such when they were only ten (of course their parents had caught them immediately and grounded them for a week).

“R-right. Er. Maybe my brain is a little fuzzy after all.”

Sora giggled, then pulled Riku close, tugging him into a kiss. He could still taste the ambrosia on Riku’s lips; he licked his tongue along them, then pulled back. “You’re right, it does taste delicious…” then, he turned his gaze towards Riku’s neck. “I wonder…” Sora pressed his fangs into Riku’s neck and sucked in, eliciting a happy gasp from the silverette. The blood tasted sweeter than normal; an effect of immortality, or a lingering temporary effect of the drink itself? Either way, it was absolutely mouthwatering. Sora had to stop himself before he drank too much; it was just so intoxicating… Sora felt himself getting slightly giddy, too. Oh. He giggled again.

“That good, huh?” Riku asked with fond amusement.

“Mhmm. I can taste it in your blood.” Sora looked down at the bite mark. “Ooh, there’s little flecks of gold in your blood now too.”

Riku blinked in surprise. “There is? Huh.” He frowned. “That’s not going to cause issues for you, is it?”

Sora shook his head, blushing slightly at Riku's instant concern for him. “Nah, it’ll be fine. Not sure how I know, but I know, you know?”

“Uh. Sure?” Riku then grinned slyly. “Now shut up and make out with me.”

Sora squealed as Riku suddenly grabbed him around the waist to pull him even closer; yup, he was definitely feeling drunk on that ambrosia-blood. He leaned in, eagerly locking his lips with his boyfriend.

∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞≈∞∞

Sora and Riku stood in front of the Mysterious Tower.

“We could just… not go in,” Sora suggested. He was not looking forward to whatever punishment was in store. They’d been gone for nearly a week again and no one had known where until Sora had sheepishly called Kairi once they’d returned to the GummiShip to find dozens of worried messages and voicemails from various people.

Riku sighed. “We can’t hide from this forever, Sora.”

“Why not?”

“Because Kairi would hunt us down and kill us if we tried.”

“She’s going to kill us anyway for abruptly leaving again.”

“Point.” Riku shifted nervously. “Maybe we should run.” Sora wasn’t sure if Riku was serious or not.

Either way, “Too late,” Sora said in resignation. 

“It’s about time!” Came a screech from above. The boys looked up to see Kairi leaning out a window. She jumped.

Sora nearly had a heart attack watching Kairi drop from such a height, but the redhead landed easily—proof that her training had been thus far effective (which Sora was happy about! But did she really have to keep jumping out of windows and things? It was starting to become a habit… not that Sora was much better). Both Sora and Riku let out breaths they hadn’t realized they’d been holding.

Kairi dashed over to them, keyblade out and prepared to strike.

Riku stepped in front of Sora and easily blocked Kairi’s hit, which hadn’t actually been a serious one. Sora blushed at the protective instinct (he wasn’t sure whether to be annoyed that Riku felt a constant need to protect him or flattered at it). Kairi dismissed her keyblade, and Riku followed. She put her fists on her hips and glared at the boys, who stepped back instinctually, cowering at the glare. Sora hadn’t seen Kairi that angry at him since she had accused him of accidentally breaking her scooter in the fifth grade (which he still maintained wasn’t his fault; that pothole had no business being there, even if they were all acutely familiar with its location).

“Well?” Kairi demanded. “What do you have to say for yourselves?”

“It was an honest mistake!” Sora told her. “We forgot our phones on the ship, that’s all!”

“Yeah, after you left without telling anyone, AGAIN!”

“Well… we forgot to,” Sora said meekly. “You know how I am.”

Kairi pursed her lips, then said, “Fine. But Riku, I thought you at least were responsible!”

Riku cringed. “Er. Well. Sora—”

“Ah, right. I forgot. All rational thought leaves you when it comes to Sora.”

“That’s not true!” Riku protested.

Kairi sighed. “Riku. He could ask you to leap off a bridge and you’d happily oblige.”

“Well, yeah; we’d easily survive that,” Riku pointed out.

“You know what I mean!”

“I’m right here, you know,” Sora said bitterly. Why did everyone always start talking about him as if he weren’t there? He thought Kairi at least didn’t do that (although he realized this wasn’t quite the same as usual, but still. Annoying).

“Oh don’t worry, you’re not out of the water yet,” Kairi told him. Sora wondered if maybe he shouldn’t have said anything (not that Kairi would forget, but still). 

“Aww, come on, is it really that bad?” Sora tried.

Kairi nearly growled. “Five days! You were gone five days! No one knew where you were or if you were even okay, and you didn’t answer your phones! We were getting ready to send out a rescue party when you finally called, thinking you crashed the ship or something!”

“Well, we didn’t,” Sora said petulantly, crossing his arms, getting angry in response to Kairi’s anger (he knew Kairi had a right to be upset, yet he still couldn’t help being defensive).

“There you are!” Came a tremendously loud warble from the door of the Tower.

Sora cringed in response, instinctively scrambling behind Riku to hide from the duck known as Donald that was angrily stomping over to them.

Goofy and Mickey followed Donald out, trailed by Lea… and then Yen Sid himself. They must have all been gathered together when Kairi saw them, opting to use the stairs instead of the window. If even Yen Sid had come outside to meet them, they most definitely were in major trouble.

Sora was highly tempted to simply turn and run off the edge of the floating island, wherever that led.

Donald took out his staff and tried to whack Sora over the head with it (as usual. Sora was used to such), but Riku grabbed it mid-strike and glared at the duck. Donald squawked angrily as he tried to pull his staff from Riku’s grasp to little avail (Sora tried his best not to laugh at the hilarious display).

“Donald. Riku,” Mickey said sharply; Riku let go of Donald’s staff and the duck stomped back a few paces to where Mickey and the others stood.

Yen Sid spoke with barely-contained anger, with a threatening glare that would have been quite shocking to see on him if Sora hadn’t witnessed such just under a week prior (Of course, that time it had been directed at Mickey, not Sora and Riku…). “I believe we talked about your habit of leaving without preamble not even a day prior to you once again doing such, correct?”

“Um…” Sora was tempted to feign ignorance, even though that clearly wouldn’t work.

“Sorry, Master,” Riku said sheepishly. “I, er, guess it wouldn’t be very believable if we said we won’t do it again?”

“You would be correct,” the wizard said dryly. “Your GummiShip usage will be restricted henceforth and you will not be going on missions together for the next month.”

“What!” Sora and Riku said at once, and Sora continued, “You can’t do that!”

“Oh yes we can,” Mickey said. “I must agree with Yen Sid’s decision. This is the third time in a row you have left without telling anyone. It cannot continue.”

Yen Sid nodded. "You are Guardians of Light. If you vanish, how are we to know that Xehanort has not captured you, or worse? Sora, it is still possible he desires you as a vessel."

“Well, I mean, I guess that's true... B-but…” Sora sputtered, trying to figure out how to say that he needed to be on missions with Riku without revealing why, seeing as half those there had no clue about the vampirism. He didn’t want another incident like the Olympus mission with Kairi.

“You will manage,” Yen Sid said firmly. “Or would you rather stay locked up here for a month with only book studies?”

Sora actually debated that. He hated book studies, yes, but he’d also be there with Riku, which wouldn’t make it so—

“Separately from each other,” Yen Sid clarified, undoubtedly catching onto Sora’s train of thought. Damn.

“Separate missions are fine,” Riku jumped in.

“We can still share a room though right?” Sora said to clarify, paying no heed to who else was there. He needed access to Riku for food, so Yen Sid couldn’t completely cut them off.

“Yes, you can still share a room,” Yen Sid said, sounding slightly exasperated despite the return of his more stoic demeanor from the earlier anger. “Although that is up to the Tower itself.” (Ha. So the Tower was sentient, as Sora had thought! Which was actually kinda creepy, although not nearly as creepy as Merlin’s voyeuristic sentient house. Did all wizards have sentient homes?).

“Riku, you’ll be going with me to look for the missing guardians,” Mickey said. Then upon noticing Sora and Riku’s expressions clarified, “Oh, but only while the others have missions! Breaks are important too; too much stress leads to disaster and darkness, after all,” the mouse explained. Sora wasn’t sure how accurate that was, but he was certainly relieved and appreciative that the King provided an excuse for Sora and Riku to meet frequently enough for Sora to get blood without actually revealing that was the reason (although Sora was disappointed he’d have to go back to every few days drinking rather than daily, but there could have been worse punishments).

“What about me?” Sora asked. “I’ll have missions too, right?” He wouldn’t be surprised if he were forced to stay to train or given really simple things or something.

“Of course!” Said Mickey. “You’ll be going with Kairi, Donald, and Goofy—we found some new worlds to look into!”

Sora perked up at that. Finally, some new worlds! He hadn’t explored a new world in a while, unless you counted the parts of Olympus they hadn’t seen before. He was also looking forward to doing so with Kairi; of course it’d be great if Riku could be there too, as the three of them had yet to go on a mission alone together, but it was something at least. Kairi looked excited too.

“And me?” asked Lea.

“Lea, you’ll be joining Riku and I,” Mickey said. “You, Kairi, and S—you and Kairi are still training, so I want you two to be with experienced people.”—Sora felt a flash of anger at what Mickey had obviously been about to say (he did not need supervision!)—“Seeing as we might need to go back to the Realm of Darkness at some point, you’re the best choice for going with us again since you’re used to it.”

“You’ll all be leaving in the morning,” Yen Sid informed them. “We can’t put off looking for the lost guardians and gaining the Power of Waking for any longer. Make sure you get plenty of rest.” He looked pointedly at Sora and Riku, clearly predicting how the two would try to spend the night (to Sora's total embarrassment). “You are all dismissed.”

As he headed back to his room, Sora realized that Yen Sid had never actually asked them to clarify what they had been doing in Olympus. Should he tell the wizard what they’d discovered? Although that would probably lead to even more punishment, as they’d technically gone to see an enemy… oh, and there was the fact that Sora was apparently classified as a dark creature and the rage-form might come up. Well, best not to say anything, then. 

Besides, it’s not like vampirism would negate the Guardian-of-Light thing, right? Right… well, they’d cross that hurdle when—if—they got to it.

**Author's Note:**

> We're moving into KH3 territory now! Except, I won't have them going places in the same order, which will significantly affect things. Case and point: Next entry will have Kairi, Sora, Donald, and Goofy going to San Fransokyo! As it's much earlier, there won't be the usual events. Its format will be different, too: it starts once they return, and told through flashbacks. Basically, Kairi and Sora disappeared for a while yet have little memory of why. Slowly, they remember... and Kairi starts to realize that she may have learned something about Sora while there.
> 
> Don't expect the next entry for a while though, as I only just started it and I do have a number of stories close to being done that I want to complete first.


End file.
